Sweater Weather: Edmonton, Jerusalem, And Places In Between

It’s been a frigid week across the world, and with the haunting music of “Sweater Weather” hijacking the radio airwaves and getting completely stuck in my head, here’s my four-part harmony supporting how that song just makes too much sense this week.
In Jerusalem yester...

It’s been a frigid week across the world, and with the haunting music of “Sweater Weather” hijacking the radio airwaves and getting completely stuck in my head, here’s my four-part harmony supporting how that song just makes too much sense this week.

In Jerusalem yesterday, a foot of snow fell and paralyzed all traffic in and out of the city, effectively sealing off Israel’s capital from the rest of the country. And, to make it worse, more snow is coming. Snow also fell in Cairo for the first time in, well, a long time, and surreal pictures of snow-covered, bombed-out Aleppo in Syria also flashed across twitter this morning. Forget about the Arab Spring, or the fear of an Iranian nuclear winter… this week it’s all about the Snowpocalypse, Middle East-style.

Closer to home, 6+ inches of snow are on the way during the overnight hours from Saturday into Sunday, which of course means that I’m already being deluged with texts, Facebook messages, and emails about whether or not there will be Prozdor on Sunday. Easy, people, I won’t even begin to make that analysis until Saturday night after Shabbat.

The Bruins are quietly marching across the frozen Canadian prairie, having swept their way through Toronto (win), Calgary(win), and Edmonton (win) over the past five days. The high temperature yesterday in Edmonton? 5 degrees. Not warm. Next up, a much-anticipated showdown with their new rivals in Vancouver on Saturday night. With Shawn Thornton under suspension after the ugliness of last Saturday night’s game against the Penguins, Milan Lucic and Zdeno Chara will have to step up their toughness quotients against the Canucks.

The surprisingly amazing Disney movie Frozen continues its impressive box-office run, closing in on the $200 million mark already. I saw it just after Thanksgiving and make no mistake, it’s phenomenal. Time will tell how it matches up with The Lion King and Aladdin, but if there’s a difference in quality between those three, it’s negligible. I definitely need to see it again.

And yes, friends, have no fear. I’m still running every day, including Tuesday afternoon in the snow along the harbor in Swampscott, and last night over the frozen sidewalks in Bedford. And next week, I’ll be testing out the potentially snowy, but most likely just wet, sidewalks of Jerusalem. Given the winter blast that just swept through the Judaean hills, I think it’s a safe bet I’ll be bringing my SmartWool socks.

And, for good measure, a musical coda.

Shabbat Shalom, and bundle up.

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